“I may not be able to draw, but I can sew!”
As a boy scout, Maxwell Knight was influenced by Robert Baden-Powell’s teachings, which insisted that the study of living things was one of the single most important features of everyday…
WORKING WITH INTELLIGENCE
“Intelligence is MI5’s currency,” according to mi5.gov.uk – “Collecting and analysing covert intelligence is at the centre of what MI5 does, and roles in these areas are critical to our mission…
Keep nature on the Agenda – post Brexit
“We can only hope that any future government will be continually alert and that the warnings of many top scientists about the necessity for full and extensive tests on any form…
What makes a good Field Naturalist?
“A good naturalist must be healthy, alert and tough,” writes Maxwell Knight in The Frightened Face of Nature (unpublished). “Think of some of our own naturalists today (1964): Field Marshal Lord…
True conservation is as impossible as…
…trying to produce a “balance of nature”. The best we can hope for, therefore, is our best attempt at nature conservation – to help the maximum number of desirable species…
“Be a Nature Detective”
I have in front of me a “withdrawn” library book written by Maxwell Knight entitled “Be a Nature Detective” (Frederick Warne & Co 1968). On 24 June 1968 –…
Feeding our animals in 2066 – a perspective on future challenges for Zoos & Aquariums
John Cooper, Simon King and Andy Beer (nutritionist – RZSS) were guest speakers at the BIAZA Conference and 50th Anniversary celebrations 6th – 8th June Marwell Wildlife Abstract: The…
A new generation of Nature Detectives
John Cooper first heard Maxwell Knight’s iconic broadcasts as a child because his family listened to Nature Parliament in the afternoons, at ten past one on the Home Service. After…
Was Maxwell Knight Ian Fleming’s “M”?
To many, “M” might seem like a random letter plucked from thin air by Ian Fleming during a spell of writer’s block; a fictional character. It was, of course, anything…
Global wildlife populations have halved in just 40 years” – WWF’s Living Planet Report 2014.
“Wildlife’s continued decline highlights the urgent need for sustainable solutions to humanity’s increasing demand on our natural resources,” reports WWF and ZSL in the Living Planet Report. Professor Ken Norris,…
Nature: friend or foe?
“Many people think that animals of all kinds can be neatly put into groups and labelled Friend, or Foe; or Harmless, or Harmful. Unfortunately, nature does not work like this,…
It’s true, Maxwell Knight’s notoriety isn’t without controversy…
His skills were honed as a member of Rotha Lintorn-Orman’s British Fascists who imported the ideology of Fascism. He was the group’s spymaster and managed to assemble a large number…
Maxwell Knight – the spy-runner who loved nature
Maxwell Knight was the original “M”, a spy-runner who, with the help of young case officers, was responsible for counter-subversion and managed successfully to penetrate the British fascist movement. He…
Why didn’t Maxwell Knight publish The Frightened Face of Nature?
Maxwell Knight was aware of the furore and criticism from chemical companies and others when Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring in 1962. Indeed, he credits her work in…
BIRD GARDENING – HOW DID IT START?
Knight the pioneer: How did ‘bird gardening’ become established in British life? Simon King reveals its origins in the ideas and writing of the famous WW2 spy catcher – none…
Camberley Natural History Society’s Exhibition at Surrey Heath Museum – Photo blog
Maxwell Knight was amongst the original founders of the Camberley Natural History Society in 1946. Source: Camberley Natural History Society’s Exhibition at Surrey Heath Museum – Photo blog
How did ‘bird gardening’ become established in British life?
Simon King and Margaret Cooper reveal its origins in the ideas and writing of the famous WW2 spy catcher – none other than Maxwell Knight. Available in this week’s Cage & Aviary…
Maxwell Knight’s cabinet featured in Cage & Aviary Birds publication:
Copyright: see acknowledgements
New Statesman: Cuckoos, le Carré, and conservation: the forgotten files of the real-life “M”
Read Anoosh Chakelian’s article on the New Statesman website Copyright: see acknowledgements
The Guardian: Spectre of destruction: the lost manuscript of the real-life ‘M’
“Breaking open a locked cabinet belonging to Maxwell Knight, naturalist and spy, yields not Top Secret documents but a passionate scientific plea…” – Read Simon King’s article in the Guardian…
M’s (Maxwell Knight) Spectre: The Frightened Face of Nature
During the 1960s Maxwell Knight – the real-life “M” – was working on a manuscript entitled The Frightened Face of Nature, snatching brief moments to record his thoughts on how man had treated nature so unfairly for the first fifty years of the twentieth century. The manuscript documented Knight’s greatest fears that, time was running out for nature and that its greatest threat was man’s destructive revolution and the reverse of evolution.
“By all means let man use his great powers to invent new devices; let him give of his best to see that all shall benefit from his genius in curing, healing, and housing those in want. But do not suggest that this can only be done by destroying what is fine to look at or listen to, whether in the arts or nature.
If human brains can find means of defying space, improving means of communication and bouncing pictures off satellites, surely he can also discover ways in which these things can be done without destruction – for destruction first is the cry of mad revolution and is the reverse of evolution.”
– Maxwell Knight
The manuscript was kept under lock and key and it remained a secret until 2015 when the (hitherto unpublished) manuscript was discovered inside M’s personal filing cabinet…
Copyright: see acknowledgements
